A conversation with Dr. Melanie Boly (OHBM 2025 Keynote Interview Series)

Authors: Naga Thovinakere, Simon Steinkamp

Editors: Ashley Tyrer, Yohan Yee

Next up in our keynote interview series is Dr. Melanie Boly, who holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is also a principal investigator at the Center for Sleep and Consciousness. Additionally, Dr. Boly is a board-certified neurologist both in Europe and the US, combining research in neuroscience with clinical work as an epileptologist. 

She began her career studying medicine at the University of Liege, Belgium, where she was also a FNRS research fellow in the Coma Science Group. Over the last twenty years, her research has mainly focused on altered states of consciousness, utilizing a wide range of neuroimaging techniques, spanning PET, fMRI, EEG, and neuromodulatory techniques such as TMS. Throughout her career, she has received mentorship from eminent researchers such as Profs. Steven Laureys, Pierre Maquet, Adrian Owen, Marcello Massimini, Karl Friston, Giulio Tononi, Hal Blumenfeld and Catherine Schevon.

We were honored to share a conversation with Dr. Boly, in which she offers her insights about integrating different neuroimaging modalities to understand consciousness, the interplay between anatomy and function, and how these methods can be used to test integrated information theory, as well as the clinical applications of these methods.

Watch the interview below, or follow the link: https://youtu.be/-hyfX923xDk